Sunday 2 October 2011

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

As with many types of cancer the treatment now means that more people survive the disease than lose their lives. In the UK 70% of women (and men) survive beyond 10 years from diagnosis, which is how survival rates are measured in the UK.

Many cancer treatments, including Herceptin and some chemotherapy drugs, are derived from plants, in fact 74% of the top 150 prescription drugs in the USA are derived from plants.

These facts would suggest that we humans are very reliant on plants for our own survival and yet deforestation of the Amazon rainforest from July 2010 to July 2011 was more than 1600 square miles, up 15% on the previous year. That's more than 10 times the size of the Isle of Wight, and that's just one year!

Hundreds of new species of plant and animal are discovered every year but if we carry on destroying habitat, which makes it impossible for animals to survive then we risk sending unknown species extinct before we've discovered them.

Who knows what cures there might be?

Cancer treatment has made tremendous progress in recent years but there is still some way to go. It may do us some good to be as aware of how treatments are derived as well as the disease itself if we are to continue to see progress.

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